Sonic Chronicles: The Rise of Robotnik
by Cat Prince Eric
Summary: When Sonic & Co. return from defeating the Dark Brotherhood, they find their world has been taken over by the notorious Dr. Robotnik in the five years they've been gone. Now they must team up with a rebel group calling themselves the Knothole Freedom Fights if they ever want to see their world returned to peace! Updated Wednesdays.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note**

_I am writing this speculatively._

_This is my take on what could have happened upon Sonic & Co. returning home after defeating Ix._

_After Sonic & Co. return home from the Twilight Cage in "Sonic Chronicles", they discover that Eggman has risen to power, as time moves much slower in the Twilight Cage and several years have passed on Earth – giving him the opportunity to strike while Sonic wasn't there to stop him._

_My story aims to expand on this alternate reality; one where Eggman has won and Sonic and his friends must try to defeat him in order to set things right and bring about justice._

_As Cream and Omega were optional party members, I have written them as if they never left Earth. Five years have passed. I've also made the other characters slightly older as to put a few years between, say, the Dreamcast games and "Sonic Chronicles."_

**Ages:**

Sonic – 17

Tails – 10

Amy – 14

Knuckles – 18

Rouge – 20

Shadow – Ageless

Cream – 13

_Please enjoy._

**Chapter One**

**In Which the World Has Changed**

_Bang._ The coffee cup collided with the table top and Sonic jumped, having had settled on the window-seat, staring aimlessly out the window with a troubled expression on his face only moments ago. He turned to see that Rouge had done it, now taking a seat where Tails and Shadow had already been at the small table, the kit organizing yet another strategy in the form of a blueprint of sorts and Shadow heatedly discussing on and off with Rouge the pros and cons of each of Tails' new plans intermittently as the frustrated young fox came up with them only to crumple them up and throw them at the floor, coming to terms with having to do yet another revision. Now that she was seated, Rouge spoke up yet again, not waiting until Tails was done with his careful drawing.

"Why can't you just tell him the flaws now before he's done?" She directed this at Shadow, having taken his stern stare at Tails' work as a formulated rejection of the plot. Sonic sighed and returned to staring out the window. Knuckles was outside somewhere but night had since long fallen and Sonic could no longer make out his shape among the trees, where the echidna had previously been working out, seemingly to tire himself out though his old friend made up the excuse that he needed to waste not a moment on rest. Sonic's ears perked when first the scratching of Tails' pencil stopped and then Shadow's quiet baritone sounded.

"I am waiting for him to see the faults of his own designs." With these words, Sonic again heard the crumpling up of paper and then the screech of a kitchen chair drawn across tile as Tails, Sonic affirmed with a peek over the shoulder, got up from the table to drop his paper in the wastebasket beside the kitchen counter. The fox calmly collected other discarded plots and brought them to the wastebasket. Despite his ginger movements and soft footsteps, Sonic could see that in his face, Tails was enraged and on the verge of tears.

"Guys, we've been at this for hours," Amy said aloud what was on Sonic's mind. "Shouldn't we take a break?"

"Yes." Said the nurturing voice of Vanilla, and Sonic turned towards the doorway to see that it wasn't, but instead Cream stood there, her long blonde hair braided and resting on her shoulder. She had on a simple night slip, and Sonic checked the clock to find it was well past one in the morning. He blinked, incredulous and slumped against the wall of the window seat, heaving a belabored sigh. Cream continued, "Working yourselves ragged won't be any good. Besides, you'll want to be well-rested when I introduce you to the other Freedom Fighters in the morning."

"Lucky that Cream found us, isn't it?" Said Tails, in a quavering voice that brought all eyes to him spare Shadow's. He stood with his back to the group, leaning against the kitchen counter. The candlelight casting its dim glow in the room ("It's too dangerous to use electricity nowadays. Robotnik could easily track it back here," Cream had explained when the switches wouldn't work.) and the light barely illuminated Tails' back but it was clearly that he felt so tired, just in his stance alone. "It's so odd, though, to think that she's got me beat on age now. I was supposed to be two years older, only to come back and find out she's three ahead of me."

He laughed and it was as hollow as the light was bright. Sonic blinked slowly.

"Well, then, what are we doin' just standin' around? Let's get some shuteye." Sonic hopped up from the window seat, and crossed to Tails. Cream gasped, under her breath, and rushed to where Sonic had been, apparently his voice having given away his position to her. She shut the curtains over the window.

"Sonic," she chided, "The huts window must stay closed at night, when there are candles lit. What if a patrol bot was seeking light sources? Then what?"

"Uh, uhm, I'm sorry," Sonic apologized awkwardly and Shadow snorted, as if this should've been apparent to anyone that could stand on two legs. He shot his dark counterpart a dark look before returning his attention to Tails. He threw an arm around his shoulder. "C'mon, buddy, let's get you some rest. You stretch that big brain of yours too much, it'll just snap right in half."

"Yeah, I guess," Tails shrugged him off and stalked out of the room.

"Oh," Cream fretted, watching him go. "You guys will be assigned your own huts in the morning, as Nicole takes care of that. For now, Amy, you can sleep in my bed, with me, and Rouge can have my roommate's bed since she's away on the mission tonight and for the rest of you, I've set up blankets and pillows on the living room floor. It won't be as comfortable, but it'll make do for one night."

Cream watched nervously as her friends filed out of the room, her examining their tired and bruised faces. They had just returned from one war to get pulled into the middle of another. Everyone thought that they were lost. Never to return from Nocturne, and yet there they were, with a story to tell of wars and alliances. She frowned, as Sonic left behind the girls. She approached the table, meaning to blow out the candle, to realize that Shadow hadn't left. He was so quiet and settled, she'd forgotten he was in the room entirely.

"Shadow?" She addressed him. "Aren't you going to bed?"

"Cream, I realize you are trying to be a good hostess and I commend you for your efforts, but I don't sleep." Shadow sighed, getting up from his seat as if with the intention to leave anyway.

"Oh," Said Cream, a little dumb. "What are you going to do for the night?"

"Well, I'll find something to do, won't I?" He remarked brushing by her, voice as cold as ever. She shivered in his wake and licked her lips, wringing her wrists before leaning down to blow out the candle and follow him out to the living room, where the boys were making a bed. Tails was tucked in on the floor, eyes screwed shut as if he would sleep if he liked it or not and Sonic was seated on the couch, casually stretched out and staring at the low ceiling. He quirked an eyebrow at the pair crossing the room, onwards toward the front door; Shadow swung it open and it made not a noise spare the whisper of night coming in through this new entrance. The crickets sang their night-song, a lonely soundtrack to Cream's address of Shadow. He turned at his name.

"But where are you going?" Cream said, with his attention.

"Nowhere, I suppose." He answered and left, shutting the door as softly as he'd opened it.

"Oh," Cream whined, and turned around. She jumped to see Sonic's eyes still open in spite of having just invited him to his makeshift bed. "You won't leave, will you? Knuckles and Shadow have already gone."

"Why are you freaking out so much?" Sonic whispered in reply, Tails turning over uneasily on the floor, wanting to stay uninvolved. "I mean, does it matter?"

"Sonic," she tip-toed over to him and he sat up. She crouched down beside the couch, petite hands making a home on the arm of the beaten-up furniture. "You've all only just returned and after Robotnik shot you down and I just _happened_ to find you on my recon mission into Metropolis, I can't help but feel I've only just hallucinated the only thing and that in the morning, you'll all just up and disappear again and I'll feel so crazy."

"We're real." Sonic gave her a grin, as if this could comfort her troubled thoughts. She sighed, looking down, her long ears drooping almost to the carpet.

"Look, when my mother died," Cream said, swallowing, and Sonic was taken aback at how matter-of-factly the once over-emotional little girl could say something so harsh a reality so casually. "I kept hearing her voice, just in the other room, you know? Not like I was literally hallucinating, I just thought – I could have sworn that I heard her calling for me, or just saying my name and then I would _remember._ I'm just afraid that maybe this is a dream and tomorrow I'll wake up and I'll remember. I'll remember that all of you disappeared five years ago and then I'll just cry and cry. Do you know what it's like to just cry and cry because everyone you love is gone and there's nothing you can do about it?"

"Yes," Sonic whispered. He'd leaned sideways, and had put a hand on the little girl's bowed head. Softly stroking her hair with the pad of his thumb, a comforting gesture; he took his hand away and she looked up. "It sucks hardcore."

"It does." Cream agreed. "So, I'm freaking out a little bit."

"Okay, that's fair." Sonic smiled, and she returned the gesture.

"Get some sleep, Mr. Sonic," she whispered and leaned over quickly, pecked him on the cheek and was out of the room, the same spring in her step there as always. In a moment, Sonic heard the door close and the smile faded from his face. He plopped down onto the couch cushions and sighed, feeling for a moment like she was six years old again and that tomorrow she'd have a flower crown ready for his wearing.

"Sonic?"

"Yeah, bud." Sonic rolled onto his side to find Tails rolled towards himself, blue eyes imploring.

"Do you think… be honest, but do you think that the world being like – like _this_, do you think it's our fault? For leaving?" Tails inquired.

Sonic bit his lower lip, a gesture he only did in private, an insecure gesture that Tails had only ever seen. One that meant he didn't have the answer.

"Can't say," he finally said. "All I know is - is that I don't regret it. I don't regret helping those other people out. Egghead's insane, man. He would've pulled this shit with or without us. This is basically his latest scheme and that's how we gotta look at it. We can stop him. We always do."

"Always?" Said Tails.

"Always." Said Sonic.

"Promise?"

"I promise."

* * *

Rain poured from the sky the next morning and the dense trees of the village Cream had brought them to, a village called Knothole, looked gray and pale and disheartening. Amy stared forlornly from the small porch, watching the branches move up and down in small, slow movements, against the rain as if shivering. A chill ran down her spine and she frowned, wondering when all of this would become real. Yesterday was so hazy and blurry and terrifying and the morning brought cruel reality. Why couldn't she have woken up from some horrid nightmare, a friend nearby to listen as she described the fading memory of a dream so awful that it seemed ridiculous upon inspection and reflection?

"C'mon, Ames," Sonic called, noticing she hadn't followed the group off the porch. She twitched, as if waking up and hopped down from the porch, skipping the two steps and skipped up to Sonic's side. He was holding an umbrella big enough for two and slowed his step to walk in time with her. She looked so faraway in the eyes, but he figured she'd speak up if she wanted him to know what was on her mind. He hated it when others pried and so rarely did so himself. Amy met his eyes and he threw a friendly smile her way. "Ready to meet these Freedom Fighters?"

"I honestly don't know. I'm having a hard time processing all of this," Amy replied, taking Sonic's arm into hers. He flinched but didn't refuse her. Her face darkened, saddened, because he was only being nice and never genuinely wanted her around, did he? She continued anyway, as if he wasn't a constant source of romantic disappointment, "I mean, I guess you could say I'm sort of scared of meeting them? What if they all hate us…?"

"Why would anyone hate you?" Sonic said and immediately her heart soared, only to feel guilty for her doubt in his kindness. He could've flinched from surprise, she figured. He jogged his arm as if to get her attention. "Seriously, though, you have nothing to worry about. The Dukes of Discontent and Disgruntlement up ahead though?" She followed his nod towards Shadow and Knuckles who walked more or less side-by-side, both walking as if with a great weight on their shoulders. "Now,_ they_ might not sit well with this Sally Cream's been tellin' us about."

Amy giggled and then quieted as they'd finally approached the middle of Knothole, where a group of people looking strong and capable and self-assured stood at full height, faces blank slates full of calculating judgment and stances sending the message that any of them were quite able to bring any of their new visitors to their knees. Cream looked over her shoulder at her friends and motioned for them to stop. When she'd woken up the group that morning, she'd explained that she'd already informed the leaders of the Freedom Fighters of their arrival and that they were to meet them at 10am. Now the time had come and Cream was turning away, her face calmly cleared of an emotion as she bowed her head politely before tilting it up again and speaking.

"Princess Sally," she said with reverence, "Lieutenant D'Coollette, Intelligence Officers Nicole and Rotor, I present to you, Sonic the Hedgehog, and his company, Miles Prower, Guardian Knuckles of Angel Island, Shadow the Hedgehog, Amy Rose, and GUN Agent Rouge the Bat."

Those addressed standing behind Cream nodded or rose their hands at their address, offering pleasantries. Knuckles and Shadow kept mum, but Sonic offered a grin that went unanswered by those standing in front of Cream. Sonic couldn't take his eyes off of the beautiful redheaded young woman introduced as a Princess.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintances," Sally offered, then went straight to business. "Your party was believed to have gone MIA, Sonic –if I might be so casual- and to see you back is of great surprise. Where've you been all these years?"

"Well, like ya said, y'Highness, I suppose I _was_ MIA; the dimension we travelled to ran in a different timezone, so to speak, so a few weeks there turned out to be a few years here." Sonic replied smartly and Tails was surprised he'd explained it so eloquently. He feared Sonic wouldn't be able to put it into his own words. Sonic disentangled himself from Amy and stepped forward, Cream stepping closer to him to hold her umbrella above his head and hers. "Can you tell me more about this operation? Like, what do you guys do?"

The Lieutenant, a blond coyote taller than both Sonic and Knuckles but leaner than the latter, snorted; he adjusted the eye patch over his right eye and mumbled something in what sounded like French. Sonic frowned, knowing when he'd been insulted but too focused on Sally's reply to make a cheeky remark. "We are the Freedom Fighters, Sonic, and like the name implies, we're fighting for our and everyone else's freedom against Robotnik's Regime. We're stationed out here in the woods, because Robotnik has no known hold here and from this base of operations, we formulate counterstrikes. For example, we shut down one of his leading Roboticization factories last night around 3am in Metropolis."

"He mentioned Roboticization the last time I, uh, saw him. What do you mean by a Roboticization fact'ry?" Sonic asked, shooting Tails a quizzical look that the kit knew meant Sonic already suspected and feared that he knew exactly what she meant.

"Do you know what Roboticization is?" Sally asked.

"Guessin' it's exactly what it sounds like." Sonic said flatly, with an expression denoting annoyance at such a stupid question. He wasn't _stupid_, after all.

"Well," Sally's eyebrows knit, as if challenging him not to ask stupid questions. "It's a form of genocide, what he's doing. It started with just anthropomorphic sapiens like ourselves; Robotnik has been Roboticizing everyone, like us. Since, however, he has been Roboticizing even his own kind – homo sapiens – if they disagree with his ways. There is no cure to Roboticization. He isn't trapping anyone in robots anymore, like in the past. Now, he's found a way to totally transform flesh and blood into circuitry."

Amy gasped, horrified and an unsettled air came over Sonic's half of the group gathered. Sonic looked around, for the first time noticing that there was an audience to this meeting. Other Freedom Fighters, most of them scarred and some of them brutally marred, sort of like The Lieutenant with his eye patch.

Sally met Amy's eyes.

"We feel much the same way," she said, eyes softening upon falling over the young girl's face. Sonic glanced sideways at Amy, her eyes already glimmering. She was always so sensitive when it came to the lives of others. Sally continued, looking to Sonic as a leader of this ragtag group in her village, "Just last night, in spite of our success, we lost one of our troops. Her name is Bunnie."

"Was she killed in battle?" Shadow inquired, earning a few surprised looks from his friends, as though it was surprising that he might care enough to ask. However, his cold expression gave no compassion and all doubted he had any. Sally shook her head and The Lieutenant visibly paled over her shoulder.

"We don't believe so. More likely, she'll be Roboticized and her memories retained so that she might be able to track us down. We fear that our friend will be Roboticized this evening, if Robotnik can get his back-up generators online." Sally explained.

"What was the point of a mission so pointless?" Shadow scoffed. "I thought you said you were successful; then, how is he to fix a factory you broke?"

"He moves a lot faster than he used to." Sally said, voice gone tight.

"Are you goin' to rescue her?" Sonic asked.

"Of course - !"

"They'd be moronic to!"

Amy and Shadow had replied simultaneously. They locked eyes, Amy fearful and Shadow harsh. Amy's head swirled around to look the other way and Sonic's eyebrows rose high up his forehead, and looked at Sally's dark expression as if to say he didn't know Shadow and had only just met him.

"As she poses a threat to security, we'd have to go back either way. It's the least we can do for someone of her stature. She's very heroic and stayed behind in order that we'd escape." Sally replied coolly, and The Lieutenant was now staring at the ground. Sonic wondered if there was something more going on with that man and this Bunnie. Rotor and Nicole looked uncertainly towards one another. Nicole offered him a friendly smile before meeting eyes with Sonic. Sonic grinned and she flushed, looking away as if she'd interrupted the conversation by catching Sonic's attention.

"You're a good leader, I can tell." Sonic remarked, returning his eyes to Sally, thinking on how cute Nicole was when blushing. Amy nodded, oblivious to Sonic's eyes that kept catching glances at the dark haired lynx standing just behind the cool and collected Sally. Sally smirked.

"I hope you're as useful to us as your reputation would suggest. I'm hereby inviting you, and your team, to join the Freedom Fighters. We'll have to figure out what jobs would best suit your abilities, but you're a strong group of people and have helped to right Robotnik's wrong a-many time in this world, and it'd be an honor to fight beside all of you. If you so accept, you have a home here." Sally said, and Sonic could feel Amy's hopes lifting. The girl always felt best when she had a use.

However, Knuckles was stepping forward, asking, "And what if we politely decline this offer?"

"Knuckles…" Cream and Amy whispered in unison, disbelief giving them twin expressions of knit eyebrows and fretting eyes.

The one addressed shrugged at the girls.

"Sally," the Guardian stepped forward again, out in front of Sonic now, to speak to the confident redhead more personally, "If I might be so casual, I'm a loner. I don't do organizations very well. It's nothing on you or your Freedom Fighters, I just can't stand being told what to do."

"Well, I can't force you to stay and I can't say I'm not disappointed. You would've been especially useful to the cause." Sally admitted, offering him a hand. He took it and gave her a firm shake.

"I should probably take leave, then." Knuckles said. He turned and the others all watched at first, then looked to one another.

"Hey, man!" Sonic called. There was something like bewilderment on his face.

"Yeah, Sonic?" Knuckles called over his shoulder, not stopping.

"We haven't had fun in a while, y'know? I'll mess you up when we meet again, alright? Take care!" Sonic called, friendly and lighthearted, to the quirked eyebrow of Sally. She and Nicole shared a look, as if trying to gauge what sort of person Sonic was. In the distance, there was the sound of Knuckles chuckling. He stopped and turned around.

"Have it your way, Hedgehog, but you know I'll cream you." With that, he was on his way. Sonic laughed and then Shadow stepped forward. Curtly, he offered Sally his hand and she took it.

"I don't want to see all of you lose each other. There's a real war now and I can't be involved with clearly emotional parties." Shadow said and Sally shook his hand once before releasing herself of his grasp. Her face betrayed no emotion but her body had gone rigid. Shadow stepped back and slowly looked into the faces of his partners in his last mission.

"Are you coming with me, then?" He asked of Rouge.

"I can't say that I particularly want to get drafted into this." She admitted in a totally nonchalant voice, as if these were old times. She glanced at the leaders of the Freedom Fighters and held off from mentioning that there was a high likelihood that she'd find herself aligned with Eggman shortly, as he'd offer the higher bid and besides, he was clearly the side that was winning, which was the side Rouge always took in a fight. She approached Shadow, and slid her arm around his waist. "Let's get going then, Sugar."

Without much of a reaction, Shadow Chaos Controlled them out of the area, causing Rotor to jump.

"I've studied Chaos magic so intently…" He breathed.

"…but never thought I'd, I mean, you'd get to see it performed in real life." Finished Nicole, with the same astonishment on Rotor's face; Sally and the Lieutenant looked as though they only wished to know what on Earth had just happened.

"Is anyone else leaving?" Sally asked quite seriously.

Sonic glanced backwards one way and locked eyes with Amy and then the other to look at Tails' open, young face that was so full of troubles it made him feel bad. Sonic blinked and looked at Sally again, wondering how half his team dissolved into the air.

"Nah, Princess, these two are as loyal to me as any of your group there is loyal to you. We wouldn't go anywhere without one another. Knuckles'll be back; he just needs time to cope." Sonic reassured her, a wide grin blooming on his face.

Sally returned his smile with a smirk. She looked as though she were challenging him, but he wasn't sure what she was challenging him to. "Well," she said, clasping her hands in front of her before opening them and bringing them up and open as if showing off the village of Knothole, "Welcome to the Freedom Fighters."

"Excellent," Sonic grinned. "So, when do we go on this rescue mission?"

* * *

Hours later, and after much argument, Sonic found himself seated on a flying disc of a vehicle, almost like a floating bowl really, when you counted the walls that kept passengers safely aboard the circular thing. Rotor was at the controls, flying them into Metropolis at the dead of night, when they had higher chances of getting in undetected, as Rotor had explained. It was about ten, Sonic judged from the sky, and their flight was a nearly soundless one. Sonic sat in the back of the disc, arms out at either side of the flying bowl, trying to feel less cramped. He'd agreed not to run after making such a fuss about accompanying the group of Sally, The Lieutenant and Rotor on this mission. Nicole stayed behind as she felt that on a rescue mission, she was more of a liability than anything, working in Intel as she did. Rotor was the pilot and chief mechanic and Sonic, Sally and The Lieutenant served as the ground soldiers tonight. Now that he was trapped here when running would've been so much faster, Sonic examined his company. Sally had long red hair tied meticulously into a tight bun at the base of her neck and a small red fringe adoring her forehead. She had the bluest eyes Sonic had ever seen and a lithe, strong body that Sonic couldn't help but catch himself examining, exploring visually the curves of her perfect proportions before realizing what he was doing and looking away, hot-faced and embarrassed. Even now, he pulled at the neck of his tight, military-grade jacket that was supposedly able to protect him from electrical and flame burns and felt uncomfortable in the matching pants that were both uniform and, according to Sally, a symbol. A symbol that he wasn't some animal and wouldn't be treated as such by Robotnik's Regime.

Really, he just felt uncomfortable and the nervousness of looking at Sally the way he had been didn't help. He looked next to The Lieutenant, who was adorned with the same eye patch and nasty scars that stuck out at either end of it, entailing a gruesome injury once upon a time. He had blonde hair firmly pulled back into a short ponytail and a uniform different from his own, displaying his rank. He had a sword at his side, in addition to the gun at his other. Sonic wondered which of his hands were dominant and let his eyes slide to Rotor's back. The walrus must've been far from home as Sonic had never seen a walrus except in passing. He was in a higher ranking uniform, too, and besides was pretty nondescript as far as looks went. He left hand, though, was bearing a nasty burn scar, an old wound detailing his history in this army of Sally's.

He'd heard throughout the day that she was the Princess of some forgotten Kingdom but he hadn't been up to asking, so exhausted from passing through dimensions and trying to rest up before tonight's mission because, really, he was anxious to both show this new team of his his ability as well as to see what was in store for him in Metropolis. He hadn't seen much yesterday, and now he wanted to rectify that.

"So, how old are you, anyway, Fastest Thing Alive?" The Lieutenant said, making conversation as finally the flying bowl had cut through the trees, into some kind of barren wasteland. Sonic strained his eyes to see any details of the horizon, but could find nothing. As if never hearing The Lieutenant, Sonic leaned out the side of the flying bowl.

"Where are we?" He asked. He'd been through the Knothole forest. It was supposed to share a border with towns, but where they were… there was nothing. "Isn't there supposed to be a town called – called Ashenia on the Northern border of the Knothole forest?"

"There was." The Lieutenant answered, grimly. Sally turned her eyes on them. Sonic frowned, and anger bubbled up inside of him.

"Well, I can see why they would move their town, this is crappy real estate," Sonic joked, sitting back down again. His audience remained stone silent. He looked at them, both parties staring him down as if what he'd said was highly inappropriate. Well, how else was he to cope? As if unbothered, Sonic locked eyes with The Lieutenant and answered his earlier question, "I'm seventeen."

Both The Lieutenant and Sally laughed, wistful.

"What?" Sonic asked, feeling as if an inside joke had been told and he wasn't inside it.

"You're so young, is all," The Lieutenant answered, smiling.

"Young? How old are you guys then?" Sonic crossed his arms, giving them a playful look of indignation.

"Twenty-five and still young," Rotor answered right away and Sally laughed, a weathered laugh that sounded weak from lack of use.

"Twenty-two," The Lieutenant nodded.

"And I'm twenty-one, as of last month." Sally answered, then laughed, "and still young."

"Wow," Sonic breathed. "Do I get to sit at the adult table, anyway? I can even cut my own food."

The Lieutenant laughed outright and Sally grinned again, though it didn't reach her eyes.

"It's crazy," she said, looking at The Lieutenant. She glanced at Sonic, "I've been at this since I was his age."

"Jesus," The Lieutenant breathed, smile falling from his face as lights came into view. Sonic didn't contemplate their disparately mixed emotions as he was curious as to their new location. Metropolis was a blinking, bountiful city and from here it looked huge. The shadowy cutouts of where buildings were, was imposing and garish. Sonic stared at it like he was seeing stars for the first time, confused and in awe.

"Hunker down, kids, ETA in 20 minutes…" Rotor said quietly and an eerie stillness came over the hovercraft. Sonic set his hands firmly to the cusp of the vehicle, watching with concentration as the city got brighter and the sound and smell of it assaulted him. The smoke smelled of bodies and of the sick iron of blood; this city smelled like death. How could he have not noticed? Was this a different part of Metropolis? It seemed to go on forever, and he couldn't be sure. Worse yet, the smell of it was combined with the creeping sound of what he could only describe as gears. The tinkering, turning, twisting, whistling sound of gears, the mechanical marginalization of life, the playing of God that made Robotnik a madman and the destructive results of his insanity. They were going into the Lion's helm, to find a needle in a haystack, and they were looking through the hay where the Lion made his bed.

"Based on speculative calculations, I have pinpointed that Bunnie is most likely in this region of the one running factory, and if you enter through the Southside second floor, accessible through _this_ ventilation system at ground level, you can easily navigate the hallway system I have marked on the map and achieve the rescue without personal loss. Because of our attack, there should be SWATbots on patrol, but as far as I can tell from my security tap, the backup generators do not run the security cameras so they won't be turned on until 4am, when the power is set to be up and running once again, lickity split. That means you have T-minus 4 hours to complete this mission. Sounds like a lot of time, but you'll have to move slowly to avoid the SWATbots." Rotor explained to Sonic, Sally and The Lieutenant, where they were huddled together just outside the entrance of Metropolis, hiding in the ruins of junked SWATbots and roboticized soldiers and civilians alike. There was the carnage of war here, and Sonic tried his hardest to ignore the dead bodies the way that The Lieutenant, Sally and Rotor seemed to so easily.

"Right," said Sally. "Everyone savvy?"

"Savvy, Mon Amie." The Lieutenant grinned.

"Uh, savvy." Sonic nodded, unaccustomed to the word.

With that, the three rose from the ground and The Lieutenant, Sally and Rotor did some sort of handshake of sorts, a series of hitting one another's fists and a friendly smile.

"You'll learn," Sally assured Sonic, who watched with curiosity.

"We'll show you, slowly." The Lieutenant added.

"Chaos, no," said Sonic, laughingly. "After that long flight? Trust me, I catch on _quick_."

Time passed, and brought them into the heart of the city, and it killed a little part of Sonic to move so slowly. SWATbots patrolled everywhere, crawling through the city like cockroaches and Sonic wouldn't be surprised to see the vermin – this city was dreadfully dirty, totally out of order and unfit for life. There wasn't one tree or flower in sight an everything varied in shades of gray and brown. Sonic recalled the dulled color of the forest that morning. Was it the rain or the pollution sent that way from this city? Part of Sonic couldn't help but be enraged. It was disgusting to make nature pay a price for filthy greed and want for power.

Sonic, Sally and The Lieutenant moved swiftly between buildings, Sonic choking on the wretched stench of the city the whole way, though keeping quiet about it as they had a bigger mission at hand. The machinations Sally pointed out to him as SWATbots were about six feet tall and broad but Sonic was sure he could take them out instead of all of this sneaking around nonsense. Sally, however, urged him to stay hidden with her and The Lieutenant as they'd face many SWATbots on their way out of the factory, successful or not as stealing prisoners was not an unnoticed crime.

"But, it'd be so much faster to just fight our way up," Sonic argued.

"Faster way to get ourselves killed, you mean." Sally blew him off.

"It'd be more fun, too." Sonic griped.

"Fun?" Sally scoffed.

"He's a mad man," The Lieutenant threw up his hands and they continued slinking through the city.

Finally, they were upon the entrance into a ghastly building, with a whistling ventilation system serving as an entrance and deadly promise for violence upon entrance. Naturally, the three removed the covering for the air vent and slid inside as hot butter across bread, being small as they were. Sally lead them, crawling on elbows and knees swiftly along, but slow in comparison to Sonic just behind her, feeling very much like he was moving at a slug's pace. The Lieutenant took up the rear, taking measured breaths that made Sonic wonder if he was as claustrophobic as Sonic was hateful of staying still for long. Suddenly, the three were frozen, rooted to their spots. Transfixed. Horrified. A blood-curdling scream had sounded. A girl, young by the sounds of it, and in terrible pain. The next moment she was totally quiet. The three remained very still, all trying to track the sound.

"Oh, je suis désolé," The Lieutenant whispered, voice revealing great anguish.

"Was that her?" Sonic asked, wishing he could look backwards at The Lieutenant.

"Keep moving," Sally ordered and they followed. Soon, they were staring down a shaft that would take them directly into a hallway off to the side, leading innocently to a supply closet. Sally slid down and landed gracefully with both shoes to either side of the lip of the vent. She crouched and pried it open, then swiftly jumped to the ground, sticking her landing and moving aside, to be followed by Sonic first then The Lieutenant.

"Can I move fast now?" Sonic asked, almost like a little kid.

"Only if you want to jeopardize us all," The Lieutenant reprimanded. Sonic shrugged and Sally pulled out the map.

"Okay, according to Rotor, there are three possible locations for the prisoner quarters and Roboticization chamber. Based on past encounters of similar structures, we can estimate that the chamber is either here, here, or here. Since Sonic is along, we can all take a path of our own. If nothing turns up, we meet here again in 15. Otherwise, we'll meet at 3:30 outside the parameter of the city, with Rotor." Sally said, pointing out the paths they were each to take.

"Wait," Sonic interrupted. "What time is it now?"

"Half past two." Sally instantaneously replied, barely glancing at her watch as she and The Lieutenant held up their wrists, adjusting their watches.

"So late already." Sonic's eyes widened, feeling now like they'd gone through molasses. "How do we get back to Rotor so fast?"

"We run. Balls to the walls," The Lieutenant threw back. "Synchronize watches?"

"Synchronizing." Sally confirmed. She looked at Sonic and took his wrist in her hands gruffly, synchronizing him. "It'll go off in fifteen and again at 3:30. Something's wrong with you if you aren't back in time, so be on time."

"Now you're speaking my language." Sonic grinned and they all took off.

At first, Sonic considered following the ways of Sally and The Lieutenant but after their footfalls fell out of earshot, he threw caution to the wind and opted for destroying the baddies as he went – Rotor had said, after all, that they'd not be able to trace them via camera and honestly it sped the whole process up tremendously. Getting himself lost here and there, Sonic soon stood outside a humming room with humongous doors. He recognized they were opened electronically and only electronically and that he'd have to find another mode of entrance. Suddenly, he wished he'd paid attention when Sally showed off the detailed blueprint.

He spotted a vent high up on the wall that looked to lead right into the humming room on the other side of the room and a cheeky grin ran up his face. Sonic backed up with comical slowness and then zoomed, black streaks staining the floor in his wake, running straight up the wall, he propelled himself off the wall, turning in the air to spindash straight through the vent, the metal folding like Tails' crumbled paper around his spines. He spun all the way down, uncoiling himself to land on his feet. And as if landing on a button the humming room transformed into a brightly lit, living room, filled with tubes straight out of a 1950s alien invasion film, big enough for bodies, see-through coffins, and alarms were ringing in the air.

"INTRUDER ALERT, INTRUDER ALERT, INTRUDER ALERT…"

A mechanical voice wailed.

Sonic didn't pause and felt no panic. "This looks like a Roboticization chamber if I've ever seen one, and I haven't even had to see one." Sonic remarked, zooming up and down the rows of empty tubes. Those with bodies contained ones made of only metal. His wrist watch crackled and a voice was emitted from inside. It sounded like Sally and Sonic rose the thing to his ear.

"Rotor miscalculated. The power's back on. If we're going to save Bunnie, we'll have to move like our very lives depend on it. Report back only if you've found her."

With that, the dispatch ended and Sonic swallowed, rushing around. When suddenly he zoomed straight passed a patch of color. Strawberry blonde hair and body-fur. Sonic stopped and retraced his steps at the same speed, until he was standing at the foot of a tube with a very alive Bunnie. She looked exactly as she did in her photos. Her uniform and any extra clothing stripped away, a bruised and blood-stained body left behind that looked very small in the confines of the malevolent chamber that held it.

"So you're Bunnie," Sonic breathed and the wailing hurt his ears. He lifted his watch but stopped. He'd already forgotten which button enacted the dispatch. Feeling a bit stupid, Sonic turned to the control panel, readying to open the chamber and release the girl inside when a new whirring started. One that came from inside the tube. Sonic's heart leaped to his throat and the machine burned his leg. It'd become so hot already and it'd just barely gotten started – she was going to be Roboticized!

**Diary of a Skinny White Boy:**

Thank you for reading & please review, if you've got words to pick with me! ^ u ^

No, but seriously, I've had this idea floating around my noggin for a while now and if you stopped to read it, I really appreciate that. I will be updating this story every single **Wednesday**, so keep tuned to that noise, namean. Wow, summer's almost up, huh? I won't be able to sit here, writing, glasses on, naked spare for boxers and a forkful of leftover Japanese food in my mouth much longer. How are your summers going? Fab, I hope.

I'll be replying to anon reviews here, so if you don't got an account but got a question, it will be answered! ^ u ^


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**In Which Things Go Awry**

Sonic started pushing every button and she started stirring, her orangey-blonde knees bumping the lid of the chamber. She moaned, in pain, and blinked to try to bring herself to consciousness. Then, her surroundings occurred to her. The machine began shaking, and a metal band moved up and down the length of it, casting an ugly green glow over her limbs, and she let out a terrified scream, hitting the glass as Sonic, in frustration, spindashed the control panel. He stopped and then leaned over the glass that was stinging his fingers even through his gloves.

"Cover your face." He called through the glass and her confused expression told him she didn't understand. "COVER. YOUR. FACE."

He backed away just as a bright light emitted from the machine. This time, so bright he couldn't see Bunnie anymore, but he could hear her scream – a painful moaning and crying that let him know the process had begun. Sonic took the machine at a leap, praying she wouldn't be hurt and that she could still be saved. The sound of the heavy doors at the entrance sliding open met Sonic's uncaring ears as he spindashed the glass, shattering it. He landed quiet nearly atop her, hitting his head on the now-malfunctioning metal band and he could feel the tears in his skin from all the broken glass. He'd slashed Bunnie good, worse yet, right across going from the middle of her collar bone and to the left. Horrifyingly enough, her legs and the arm she'd used to cover her face were entirely metallic. Her flesh and fur was singed at the spot where skin met circuits. He picked her up carefully, after righting himself, and held her unconscious but breathing face close to his chest, so as to protect it because now he had to escape with Bunnie in-tow and SWATbots entering from the only exit.

"Challenge accepted," Sonic grinned, remaining totally calm. He leaned backwards and then zoomed straight onward, zig-zagging around the chambers and leaping this way and that to dodge the laser blasts emitted from the guns of the SWATbots in hot pursuit. He leaped high into the air, bouncing on SWATbot heads like stepping stones, keeping a firm grip on Bunnie all the while. Sonic bounded high into the air again and was safely out the doors, only to be met with one very unfriendly sight: _more _SWATbots. There were whole battalions of them after him! "Oh well, more fun for me!"

This time, Sonic chose to view the SWATbots as mere obstacles in a pinball machine and took to the walls, jumping from side to side to avoid laser fire and keep his guest safe. He nearly fell on his face, coming to a skidding halt with Bunnie in his arms and throwing off his weight. He needed to think of her as weighing as much as her metal limbs and not as much as her small frame would suggest.

He bounded down the hallway, red lasers singeing the fur of his spines, to his great distaste. He knew he wouldn't fit into those tight-squeeze vents with Bunnie in his arms and so opted for finding a new path, going down random hallways, leaping over and on top of SWATbots as he met them, hoping that time was moving slower than it seemed because he had the rescue mission safe and sound and didn't need the others going back because he wasn't on time. The fifteen minute timer on his wrist watch had long since gone off and everything seemed to be happening so fast now and yet so very slow, as he struggled to find an exit in this labyrinth of a building. He didn't fret though – fretting was what those who hadn't his unwavering self-assurance did. Let's face it; he figured he was _amazing_, and totally unneeding of self-doubt.

And as if to pat him on the back for staying cool under pressure, doors clearly marked as an exit showed themselves. Showed themselves behind another wave of SWATbots and several floating bots with lasers and bullets aimed right at him, but showed themselves nonetheless. Sonic grinned, running cyclonically from floor to wall to ceiling to wall to floor and repeat. He dodged the firing squad in that manner and used his legs to destroy the floating ones when he could and bounce upon the heads of the SWATbots mindlessly firing at a target they couldn't home in on. Sonic realized a flaw in his design when the doors wouldn't open and he couldn't spindash with Bunnie in his arms.

"Well, crap," he said and laughed nervously.

But, as if a _deus ex machina_, the doors miraculously quivered before sliding totally open to the chagrin of a now wailing alarm and red blinking lights flashing on and off, to the chorus of what seemed like a hundred SWATbots firing away at him and Bunnie. Taking one soaring jump, almost ballet-like in its linear beauty, Sonic dodged the assailing bullets and lasers and landed at a run right outside the building, running at hyper-speed towards the Wastelands where Rotor was surely waiting. Leftward, he saw the bounding forms of Sally and The Lieutenant and cut across to meet them there.

"Hey, need a lift?" He called, running in time with them momentarily, tucking Bunnie tighter in his arms.

"Can you carry all of us?" Sally called back, voice in disbelief. The Lieutenant seemed to be holding back some sort of visceral reaction from seeing Bunnie.

"Sure," Sonic stopped. "Here, get on his back, and he piggybacks on mine and then we are out of here."

The Lieutenant nodded at Sally and she hopped aboard his back, arms tight around his neck and The Lieutenant climbed onto Sonic and the group took off at greater speeds than Sally and The Lieutenant would ever imagine going – though, to Sonic, they were moving incredibly slowly.

Soon, the shrieking whines of alarms and proclamations of an Intruder Alert were in the far distance and gone to their ears, replaced by the whistling winds of the Wastelands. When the flying cereal bowl (as Sonic had come to think of the silver hovercraft they'd flown in on as) came into view, Sonic came to a careful halt, as to not throw his party off his back and Rotor jumped up and ran to them.

"I'm so sorry! If I'd calculated - "

"Rotor, please don't worry," Sally said, holding onto The Lieutenant's arms for support after the pair had disembarked from their piggyback. She looked dizzied from the great speeds she'd just travelled.

"What happened to her?" Rotor said, anxious, approaching where Sonic stood, Bunnie cradled in his arms. "Is she okay? Was she turned into a robot?"

"It shut down halfway through…" Sonic said, looking down into the girl's face, legs trembling from great exhaustion. He'd yet to get more than a few hours sleep and it was really taking a toll on him. As if seeing this, Rotor began to disentangle Bunnie from Sonic, taking her into his own arms.

Gulping, Rotor replied, "Y-you mean…?"

"She's half-rabbit, half-rab…bot." Sonic said, confused.

Rotor took her entirely into his arms, pressing his chin to the crown of her head, tearful. "Poor, sweet Bunnie," he whispered, taking her to the hovercraft. He stepped easily into the vehicle and began buckling her in, wrapping her in a blanket they'd brought.

"Are you guys okay?" Sonic asked, turning his head towards Sally and The Lieutenant, who seemed to be on the upswing of their motion sickness.

"Will be." Sally said, marching towards the hovercraft. "C'mon, men… Let's go home."

The Lieutenant got into the hovercraft after Rotor and Bunnie and offered Sally a hand up before going to Bunnie's side, where he tucked the blanket more snugly around her chin and brushed the back of his fingers along her bruised face. Sally sat down and looked very small and tired. Sonic stood there, feeling like he'd fall over. Sometimes, after adventures, he'd just fall over flat on his face, unconscious, to wake up a couple days later in bed, at Tails' place. He hadn't had such an opportunity since returning from the Twilight Cage and he felt he wouldn't get that chance for a very long time. He gathered his strength, as Rotor started the engine of the hovercraft, and he got into the hovercraft. Soon, they were flying swiftly through the Wastelands and back into the barren horizon of where a town called Ashenia once stood, coming closer and closer yet to the mouth of the Northern Knothole forest entrance. Sonic looked at The Lieutenant, to see that he now had Bunnie in his arms, her head resting against his chest and his arms enwrapping her protectively, quiet tear stains under his eye that looked into the space of the girl's hair, his expression unreadable but clearly miserable.

Sonic looked away from the two and towards Sally to find those piercing blue eyes locked with his. She glanced away, embarrassed to be caught looking, before looking at him again. She whispered, "We were worried you wouldn't get out. Antoine and I barely got the doors open for ourselves."

"That was you guys? Where were you? I didn't see." Sonic said, surprised but whispering at her cue. His eyes flicked over the blond coyote. "Antoine?"

"Yes?" The Lieutenant looked up when addressed.

"I just never caught your name."

"Oh," Antoine smiled, friendly, before letting his vision become unfocused in the tufts of Bunnie's hair once more. Sonic licked his lips and looked to Sally for an answer.

"We were in that mess of SWATbots. We saw you coming from the same direction we'd come from. So I figured that you must've come from the exit we'd created," Sally explained. Sonic nodded, falling quiet as there wasn't much to say to that.

The hovercraft had fallen silent until they were now in the middle of the forest again and Sonic thanked Chaos just for the smell of the trees again, such a welcome scent when before they'd just had such a crude smell stuck in their nostrils. He breathed deep and leaned over the edge of the hovercraft, both understanding why Sally wanted them to stick together on board and wanting nothing more than to just leap to the ground and return to Knothole at a run. He folded his arms on the edge of the hovercraft and buried his face there. It was nearing half past five in the morning now, according to his digital clockface, but it was still black as night outside.

"What time of year is it?" Sonic spoke up, realizing he didn't actually know. He'd taken it for summer because it was warm and somewhat humid but if it were so early in the year, the sun would be up by now.

"It's late September. The eighteenth," Sally replied, arms crossed and looking worn out, "It'll start getting colder next month. It snows around here, still, but the global warming has made this a really warm autumn so far."

Sonic only nodded again. "You said you've been fighting Eggman since you were my age? How fast did he take over after I left?"

"Almost immediately, the great Hero of Justice disappeared and the world fell into Robotnik's hands, just like that. He was indomitable." Said Sally and Sonic shrank into his arms, flushing at the title that didn't feel totally deserved with the world in its current state.

"In my opinion," Rotor spoke up. "It was almost like he was only toying with domination. I mean, how could one person be so strong? I couldn't wrap my head around how your disappearance –no disrespect meant, Sonic- how it could make everything go to Hell."

"Well, I could only ever really defeat him in Super-Form and not a lot of people can even achieve that." Sonic said, matter-of-factly, without an ounce of bragging. Still, Sally raised her eyebrows at the grand comment.

"Yes," Rotor replied, "The texts I've studied speak of the 'Super-Form' only being achieved through great strength of character and willpower; whether for better or worse, if you don't have the willpower, you can't transform. It was your goodness, your sense of justice, that made you so capable of transforming, according to my research."

Sonic completely buried his face in his arms. "You're gonna make me blush, stop." Sonic mumbled, and Sally smirked at the sight of his ear tips pinkening. He was always so arrogant; talking himself up, in news reports so as to see him modest was laughable.

"Sorry," Rotor chimed, "But you really were a warrior to be reckoned with. I would wonder, many times, why you did what you did. Why you dedicated your life to pursuing Robotnik. There isn't anything on your history, so, I was always so curious."

"I don't do any real interviews, so no one really knows about my history." Sonic remarked, face still buried to Sally's amusement.

"Real interviews?" She said.

"I don't say anything that really matters." Sonic clarified and Sally and Rotor nodded, the walrus giving her a look over his shoulder.

"But your friends know your real story." Rotor said.

"Uhm, no I just…" Sonic fumbled on his words, too tired to make coherent sentences. He brought his face up from hiding to look into the trees receding behind them as they neared the quiet, dark village buried deep in the forest. "The past is passed, y'know? I don't have any feeling about it anymore and no one needs to know any me besides the one right here in the present."

At that Rotor looked at Sally again and she raised her eyebrows in warning not to ask him anything anymore. She looked at Sonic, and he wasn't looking at anyone anymore, just staring into the scenery. She sighed and looked sideways, wanting to be home so bad. But home was a far and gone memory, and she'd have to settle for the Knothole Village which beckoned them with quiet huts and nervous faces peering out the windows, awaiting the team's return, praying Bunnie would be among their numbers.

* * *

Morning came, an unwelcome sound of excitement in Sonic's ears. He was facedown into a too-thin pillow in an unfamiliar bed in the hut that'd been assigned to himself and Tails. It was on the smaller side, but adequate. Last night, Sonic stripped off his dirty uniform and fell down in bed in just his socks, so happy to finally be at rest. Then, there was light streaming in from the opening between the curtains and there were voices outside, chattering about Bunnie's homecoming and the arrival of the new band of heroes thought to be lost forever, back and with the Freedom Fighters. They seemed to be standing right outside Sonic's window, of all the Chaos-awful circumstances. Sonic groaned and sat up in bed, spines a mess on his head. He blinked his tired eyes, trying to focus his sight.

He crawled on the bed to the window just above the foot of his bed and pulled it back ever so slightly to see Freedom Fighters walking about, getting breakfast from a long line in front of one of the huts that Sonic learned yesterday was the kitchen. Some took their food back to their huts to eat in solitude but most stayed outside at the makeshift chairs and tables to eat and socialize. Sonic found Amy among those outside, dressed in the uniform pants and a black tank top that hugged her body in a way that brought a heat to Sonic's face, and she sat across from Cream and another girl, a yellow mongoose with violet hair tied up into a French braid that fell down the middle of her back. He blinked against the bright morning light and wondered as to the time. He looked for the medical hut and saw that there was a large group of Freedom Fighters gathered there, wanting a view of Bunnie that they obviously weren't allowed.

Sonic fell backwards onto his pillow again, making a noise he rarely emitted, a cross between a groan and a whine, wanting to just sleep. He couldn't have been asleep for more than three hours and he needed eight to feel normal and he was way behind on sleep as it was. Sleep was very important to him and though he didn't let on when he was exhausted, right now he was _exhausted._

Of course, the hut door chose at that time to swing wide open. Sonic rolled over to face the other half of the room and guessed that Tails was coming in, as his bed was empty and neatly made, as was his little brother's personality to have it so. The door slammed and Sonic winced at the sound. Tails was _pissed._ The kit stomped in the room, kicked off his military-standard black combat boots (which Sonic refused in lieu of the shoes that wouldn't burn up, obliterated by his high running speeds) and threw himself on his bed.

"Wow, what's eating you, kid?"

"Apparently, I'm _too young_ to do anything." Tails spat, a restrained kind of rage dancing in his eyes. "These are children fighting and I'm too young? Cream said she was on a recon mission and when I pointed that out, I was told that she's only allowed because she's thirteen and besides she wasn't even on a mission, she was actually looking for Cheese –which she confessed to already and apparently she got in trouble for this but had to admit it when she brought all of us home- and I am just _so mad._ I have saved this world, how many times? I am _not._ Too. Young."

Tails pounded his fists into his mattresses on each word, giving it the harsh emphasis that his cracking voice could not. He tightened his lips, staring up at the ceiling, eyes tearing up again.

"Bud, it's okay," Sonic rolled off his bed and approached Tails' side. "Who told you all this crap?"

"Sally." Tails breathed, trying so hard not to cry.

"Well, that's bullshit." Sonic threw back, crouching down.

"You're tellin' me." Tails said, through gritted teeth. Tears slid down sideways down his face. He swore and wiped them away, rushed, like the faster he cleaned them up, the more likely they'd have never happened.

Sonic frowned. He absolutely hated seeing his friends cry. It was his least favorite thing.

"Know what? I'll go talk to her, okay?" Sonic said, getting up, smoothing back his spines. He nearly just put on his shoes but thought that it might peeve Sally if he didn't get dressed. He looked to the living room where he remembered stripping away the uncomfortable clothes but saw nothing. He returned to the room to see them, neat and clean again, folded on a chair. His new black boots under the chair, asking to be worn; ignoring the boots, he dressed, leaving the coat to just wear the tank top, Sonic brushed his teeth and headed out into the morning light, feeling all too tired.

"Oh, Sonic!" Amy squealed, and Sonic's shoulders slumped, visibly annoyed with an eye roll and sigh before turning around to face her.

"G'morning, Ames," he grumbled and she threw herself on him. "Whoa!"

"Oh, Sonic…" She whispered. "I was so worried that you'd get hurt on that mission last night. Everyone makes Metropolis sound so very awful."

"Ha, that's like saying I wouldn't be fast enough to find my own way out," Sonic grinned, pulling back from her grip and holding her shoulders, both to keep her at arm's length and to make her feel that he was still in physical contact with her.

"This is Mina! She's my age and one of Cream's friends," She said buoyantly, bouncing backwards from Sonic's hands, to grip the mongoose he'd seen earlier by the elbow, pulling her forward for Sonic to better see. Cream stood on Amy's other side, so that both girls flanked Amy on each side. "She was a really big fan of yours."

"You're just so brave," Mina smiled shyly, blushing, "It's an honor to meet you."

"Awe, geez," Sonic flushed, scratching the back of his head, embarrassed though he'd just been bragging a second ago. "It's nothing. I mean, hello, nice to meet'cha."

With that, he swiftly shook her hand, in an almost comedic motion and the three girls giggled.

"Well," Sonic said, turning on his heel, deciding he would never understand girls, "I was actually going on my way to talk to Sally, so I'll be off."

"She's in the medical hut," Said Mina, helpfully. "She's been in there since last night, watching over Bunnie."

Like Mina said, she surely was. Sally was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, a cup of coffee in hands and face to the window, looking outside where the shadows falling from the tree branches that nearly cloaked the sky promised clouds that could only mean more rain. Rotor was seated at her feet, sleepyhead against her knee as the walrus quietly snored, an empty coffee cup at his side, and under Sally's chair. Nicole was asleep in a chair at the foot of Bunnie's bed, where the injured girl lay, hooked up to machines and dressed now in a simple white slip, bandaged and breathing steady. Antoine, The Lieutenant, was at her bedside, holding her hands in his, his thumb stroking small circles on the backs of her hands. Sonic had found this room in the medical hut at the directions of an older man, a duck, called Dr. Quack. He licked his lips and his eyes scanned the room in backwards order to look at Sally again and found the girl watching him with curious eyes. He approached her.

"Is she going to be okay?" Sonic whispered.

"She'll be fine." Sally smiled back, weakly; as if Sonic was one of many she'd given this information already this morning. "How'd you sleep?"

"Fast," Sonic said, smirking. She rolled her eyes.

In this medical hut, Sonic felt bad about talking to her about Tails, but felt he had to.

"About my friends," Sonic whispered, crouching down so that now he had to look up into Sally's eyes. He was nearly kneeling and Sally thought that he almost looked like a knight in her court, reporting back after some mission when her father had fallen too ill to listen anymore and she'd taken up his responsibilities. "I was just wonderin', how you're goin' to, y'know, fit us in to all of this? Tails told me that he's too young to do much, but that seems pretty crazy considerin' how smart he is."

Sally smiled ruefully. "He's very smart, and we intend to utilize this, but until he's older he can't enter the battlefield. I recognize that you, of course, held different beliefs and brought him along as quite an adequate ally on many of your missions, but the fact is that we have rules and we can't manipulate those rules to bend to any _special cases_, as it were. He'll be used in the labs, with Rotor, developing new technologies to aid us in the war with Robotnik. I told him this when I toured the village this morning, but I'm sorry he can't do more. I like his gusto, but he's also a child."

Frowning, Sonic wondered if he'd understood everything he'd just been told. "I mean, that still doesn't seem right. He can't sit still. He hates that. He can't sit on his hands back here, knowin' we're all on a mission."

"The world has changed and things quite nearly went awry last night. Imagine if we'd had a child to deal with, on top of that? He can't come and that's final." Sally said, firm.

"Well, fine then, but I'm not sure how this'll play out."

"Look, if the two of you plan on rebelling against my orders, there will be consequences to contend with and I promise you that neither of you will enjoy them." Sally said, flatly, as if she were too tired to put any venom behind her threat. Sonic made a face at her and she didn't know if it meant that he was offended or doubted that they'd be within Sally's ability to punish.

"I'm not lookin' to fight with you, Princess, I'm just sayin'." Sonic sighed and sat back against the wall, Sally's eyes following him all the while.

"Are you from the West?" Sally asked, changing the subject. "I'm just curious. My Kingdom was in Europe, a little island of a country called Mobius, in the Irish Sea though we had a heavy English influence. The island would be between Dublin and Holyhead, if you tried to find us on a map. The Acorn Kingdom was once there, proud and strong, though small; the size of a city, really."

"But you don't have an accent," Said Sonic, as if pointing it out to her.

"No. My family fled to North America when Mobius fell to Robotnik's control and my father died along the way. I was only five when we transplanted."

"But he's stationed here. Eggman, that is."

"Strategy, hiding under the enemy's nose and all that, and as far as Robotnik knows we're all dead, the entire royal family. He hates Anthropomorphic Sapiens, as you know, Robotnik. He wanted a whole Kingdom of them dead. He's nearly had his wish, spare for myself." Sally explained. Sonic nodded along, wondering why she was telling him all of this and her cool exterior didn't give him a single hint. "Anyway, that's where I'm from. I've noticed you say a few words funny."

"Who, me?" Sonic grinned.

"Yes, you." Sally said, smiling back momentarily. "You drop your Gs a lot and say things like 'your' as 'yer.' It simply made me wonder if you were from the West, originally."

"Oh." Sonic nodded, figuring that this made sense and amused that she'd even noticed and more amused that he sounded 'funny' talking. "Well, yeah, I am. I'm originally from Christmas Island, located West of South Island. It doesn't exist anymore, thanks to that old Egghead, but yeah, there ya go."

Sally opened her mouth to reply but a stirring at the other side of the room brought Sonic and Sally's attentions elsewhere. Bunnie was finally waking up. The Lieutenant was whispering sweet nothings to her, and she mumbled incoherently, trying to right her vision through rapid blinks. Sally had nearly leaped to her feet, bumping knee to Rotor's head and awakening the walrus rather rudely.

"Bunnie…" Sally went to her side, dropping to her knees at the bedside, putting a hand to the girl's knee. Sonic hung back, watching the scene unfold, a bit uncomfortable.

"Tu m'as tellement manqué!" Antoine said, in a voice so full of pain and love that Sonic had to swallow, remembering such tones from his past, a life back on Christmas Island that Sally had unintentionally forced him to remember. What Cream said; then you _remember._ What it was like to hear a voice and then _remember._ He turned his back on the scene, not in time to avoid seeing the way Antoine leaned up from his chair to kiss the girl lightly on the lips while she brought bruised fingertips up to touch his face like maybe she was only dreaming.

Soon, their cooing voices were replaced by a horrified gasp from Bunnie.

"Oh my stars…" she said, in a thick Southern accent, in a voice so breathy she sounded on the verge of fainting. "I've … I've been…"

"Partially," Rotor said, piping up in a comforting tone. "Only partially."

"How can I live like this?" She replied, now sounding tearful. "How did… Why am I alive? I shouldn't be alive."

"You were rescued." Nicole said, obviously awake now herself. "A rescue team went back for you, Bunnie and they saved you."

"Will I survive?" Bunnie was now saying.

"Yes. All scans reveal that you are fully functioning and that your body is not rejecting the roboticized parts of your anatomy." Rotor replied, speaking methodically but gently.

"H-how much of is a robot?" Bunnie squeaked.

"You're roboticized from the waist down…"

"Oh my stars…"

"…and from your left shoulder to your fingertips on that arm. It …you know it isn't reversible."

"I know, I know…" she audibly swallowed. "But I'll live. I'll live with it and that's what's important. That's all that's important. I'm alive."

"Yes, and you are safe now, mon cherie," Antoine promised, voice full of love and warmth.

"Oh, 'Toine," she said. There was a moment of quiet and Sonic could only assume that they kissed. "Now, which one of y'all do I have to thank for my safe return?"

"Actually," said Sally, "we've recently acquired a few new Freedom Fighters and one such newcomer accompanied us last night and not only rescued you, but ensured that Antoine and I got out in the nick of time."

"Well, what is this newcomer called, Sugar?" Sonic smiled at the way her accent made the words sound. It was insanely cute.

"Sonic?" Sonic turned when Sally addressed him. She nodded towards the bed, beckoning him over. "Would you care to make Bunnie's acquaintance?"

"Hey," Sonic said, approaching the bed and gingerly crouching down beside it to sit at eye level with the bedridden Bunnie. "Name's Sonic, and I'm as cool as the name."

"You're cute," Bunnie said, rolling onto her side to a fretting cringe of Antoine, so that she could touch his face with her right hand instead of the mechanical left. She brushed his cheek with her knuckles then tapped his nose in a friendly gesture with her index finger before leaning back against her pillows. "But are you really Sonic?"

"I am." He nodded.

"But he went missin', what, five years ago?"

"Well, I came back. Thought this party needed some livenin' up, so here I am, now the fun can start." Sonic replied and Sally laughed, a short sound accompanied by a smirk.

"He's really full of himself," Sally interjected and Bunnie laughed.

"Well, clearly, Sal-Gal." She remarked. She leaned against her pillows, now looking sleepy-eyed. "But, I don't really mind. I think I'll like this kid. You're awfully young, Sugar."

"I was always ahead of the times." Sonic blinked, unashamedly openly cocky. Sally rolled her eyes and Nicole giggled.

"Whatever you say, Sugar," Bunnie laughed. "But for someone ahead of the time, your face is as smooth as the latest bloomer I'd ever seen."

To this, the room snickered and Sonic flushed, and an unamused, though playful, scowl played on his face.

"What? I just got a sharp razor, not my fault I'm so good at everything I do," Sonic threw back, running his currently bared hand over his smooth chin. It was actually very soft. Just because he hadn't grown facial hair didn't mean they had to go around pointing it out. Shaving would be a hassle, anyway, he finally concluded.

"Sure, have it as you like it," Antoine joked, patting Sonic on the shoulder, a gesture that clearly said he was only humoring him.

Everyone laughed at Sonic's expense with the chosen target joining in on the merriment after casting a feigned look of annoyance around the room.

* * *

"What do you think of Knothole, Amy?" Cream asked of Amy that night at dinner. She, Amy and Mina were huddled together under a natural canopy of tree branches, enjoying the sound of crickets as they ate a hearty meal of a three-bean soup.

The pink-haired girl stopped mid-sip, and looked up at her two friends, who both seemed so new now that Cream was so different. Even in the darkness of night, when candles were strictly forbidden as they could be tracked for their light, Amy could make out the shapes of her friends. Cream, who'd grown out a fringe when unpinned like it was now fell over her right eye in a swept motion, and who'd become taller and of similar build to Amy in her lean, delicate curves and Mina who was very petite in frame but a bit taller than Amy, and she thought about what was, for better or worse, her new home. Amy swallowed and set the bowl down on the tree stump serving as their table and brushed her hair back and away from her cheeks. What did she think of Knothole?

She glanced around, looking out at the squat huts that made up homes and thought about the people inside them, all from broken homes like her and her friends, all the last scraps of a family name that would die with them if they lost their lives. She swallowed again, though now her mouth was dry. "I like the people. They're generally friendly, but I'm scared of my hut assignment…"

"Right," said Mina, with understanding, "You've got Sally."

"Yeah," Amy said, fearful, before biting her bottom lip. She wrung her wrists and then turned to the other two. "Oh, is she nice?"

After a thoughtful look between them, Mina and Cream sort of shrugged. "Well, uhm, like everyone else… she's _generally_ friendly…" Mina said, without much confidence.

Grimacing, Amy looked out again towards her hut. "I wish it didn't get so dark so soon…"

"Well, the forest is dense." Mina said, as if the environment couldn't help it. "Besides, it's autumn."

"Yeah, I guess so." Amy sighed. "If Bunnie and Sally are friends, why aren't they roommates?"

"Sally used to room with her brother, Elias," Mina said.

"Used to?" Amy turned her eyes on the violet-haired girl.

She nodded, grim. "He died a week ago. She's all that's left of her family."

"That's horrible." Amy said.

"I can only imagine how terrified she must have been when Bunnie was lost to the battlefield," Cream speculated, bringing her knees to her chest, done with her meal. "I mean, it was so awful when I thought I'd lost all of guys…"

"Oh, Cream," Amy whispered.

"But Bunnie's back!" Mina said. "And we've all lost people. I lost my mother to the Roboticization Factories and Cream suffered much the same and… Well, Amy, where is your family?"

"They…" Amy paused. "I don't know, I sort of ran away. Once upon a time…"

"Well, we're your family, everyone in Knothole," Cream interjected, knowing very well Amy didn't like talking about her family. "I mean, I already considered us as sisters."

"Same here," Amy smiled. "But, Mina, you said that you lost your mother to the factories, what happened to your dad?"

"He died when I was really little," Mina replied. "Somehow, I think that's for the better. Death is a cruel thing, but never crueler, I think, than when it is unjustified. My dad was sick; my mom was just - just _taken_."

"Ladies," the three startled at the smooth, accented voice of The Lieutenant and at once, three little heads swiveled in his direction, at attention. He smiled kindly, amused. "If you're finished, I would appreciate you returning your dishes to the kitchen unit and then, how you say, please find your way to bed, hm?"

* * *

The hours stretched like shadows, long and dark and dull across her bedroom as Amy Rose lay there, very much alone in the hut as Sally was up and still plotting another counterstrike in another hut meant specifically for such things. Or, at least, this was the story the hedgehog girl made up while lying there, waiting for sleep to take her. Rain drops began falling outside and Amy sighed. She wasn't sure that it bothered anyone else in Knothole Village, but the makeshift roofs allowed water to fall into the room, in tiny, incredibly annoying droplets. Amy frowned as one such droplet tapped her between the eyes. She blinked and growled in a cutely high tone. She sat up and threw her thin blanket aside, slipping out of bed. She didn't bother getting dressed; thinking the skintight black undershorts and her black tank top was adequate and slipped on her new, issued boots. What had they even done with her fanciful, bright red ones? It was all so unfair, how this world had changed.

Quietly, she vacated her hut, the rain still falling gently enough that she didn't feel the need to take her umbrella, crossing the village to where she knew Sonic's hut was located. Looking around as if though she'd get in trouble if spotted, Amy scurried to the front door and knocked three times, swift and confident; springs squeaking told her that someone was coming to answer her call. The front door opened and Tails stood there.

"Amy?" He said.

"Is Sonic in? I haven't had one minute alone with him and I'd really like to talk to him." Amy said all at once and harrumphed at the way Tails rolled his eyes.

"Between training and sitting in on strategizing, Sonic –and I- are both very tired and maybe you should come back in the morning, after we've all slept? I mean, you did training today, too, why are you still up?" Tails said, sounding aggravated in his tiredness.

"I can't sleep."

"Apparently," Tails rolled his eyes again.

She opened her mouth to reply, but Amy's words were drowned out by the whistle of missile that collided with the roof of Tails' hut with the fine-tuned quality of a skilled writer's pen dotting the Is. Amy and Tails were propelled far from the front door, both rolling in the mud as the hut behind them burst into flames. In succession, the huts all to the right began catching fire, and screams filled the air.

The silver outline of an airship flying at low altitude with a mustachioed embellishment on its flank made the reality all too clear.

Knothole was under attack.

**Diary of a Skinny White Boy**

Omfg. People READ this. ; n ; I LOVE ALL OF YOU SO MUCH YOU PRECIOUS ANGELS. /feels

Oh, here's some replies and stuff. Come back next **Wednesday** for chapter three!

**Kitten Girl:** Thank you for reading & for your compliments! She doesn't address Antoine as Antoine, that's all. It's a rank thing.

**Ohay:** I hope this chapter didn't disappoint and I hope you'll come back next Wednesday too, for chapter three! Thanks, my boyfriend says I'm cute but I think I'm funny looking :P

**Gnat1:** MY SMILE, OH GOD MY FACE HURTS FROM THE SMILE YOU PUT ON IT. Thank you so, so much. Sonic Chronicles was basically my FAVORITE thing. ; n ;

**GhostKid33:** Thanks so much! Wow, you're so nice, you know? ; n ; I absolutely adored the SatAM series and always wanted to blend the video game and SatAM world and thought this story, in addition to exploring the post-Sonic Chronicles storyline, would be a good way to blend them. I try to throw in humor, like you said, to balance the angst. ^ u ^


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